Another Gas Plant Explosion In Mexico Kills Five People, Forces Dozens To Flee

The death toll from an explosion at a natural gas plant in the central Mexican state of Puebla climbed to five on Wednesday after another body was found among the rubble, authorities said.

Rescue workers found the body and it is being removed from the site of the blast, a spokesperson for the state's emergency management office told EFE news agency.

Two other people have been hospitalized with serious injuries, the spokesperson said, adding that the cause of Tuesday's blast at the gas plant, owned by private company Gas Tomza, has not yet been determined.

The plant is located at the Chachapa industrial park on the highway linking Puebla city and Orizaba, a town in the neighboring state of Veracruz.

Puebla Gov. Rafael Moreno Valle has asked for assistance from the Energy minister in determining the cause of the explosion, the spokesperson said.

Homes and businesses in a 1.25-mile-radius of the industrial park were evacuated.

Authorities in the central city of Puebla set up a shelter to house 180 people, although there was no immediate indication of how many families had been forced to leave their homes.

Besides the injured, 58 people, mostly women and children, received treatment for nervous shock, according to the Puebla state government.